You know Delftware, I’m sure. Everyone’s grandma or favourite aunt has it in the china cabinet or displayed on a wall! White pottery painted with blue (and sometimes other colours) it is beautiful, and I hope to have a piece of it myself one day.

THE GOAL!

Inspired by a coworker who said the grey nails with a blue print I had on that day reminded her of Dutch Delftware, I thought I could do a closer rendition of it if I could find a good enough white polish. While not perfect, Sinful Colors Snow Me White did the job ok (with some fussing and effort.) I paired it with Sinful Colors Endless Blue, next attempt I think I will use something more navy. The stamping plates I used are shown in the header, although as mirrors they don’t photograph too well.

Results! Not bad. The bird (thumb) showed better than anticipated, and the floral pattern on the rest stamped well. I do have a tulip pattern I can try next time, nails would need to be a bit longer for it however as the print is larger.

Pushing autumn a little bit with this one, but I love darker reddish shades no matter what time of year. Today’s stamping experiment is with Sally Hansen Go For Gold atop Essie Shearling Darling.

Essie Shearling Darling, Sally Hansen Go For Gold

Shearling Darling applied nicely, and I like it a bit more than Essie Carry On which is a pretty close counterpart (but not a dupe.) I like using Sally Hansen Insta-Dri for stamping, however one caveat with Go For Gold – when you apply a top coat – or at least when I apply my HG top coat NYC Grand Central – it fades the gold considerably. So to get around this, as I still like the effect of the gold, is to put it over top the top coat. Not ideal, but it’s an ok workaround. Go For Gold is a paler gold, it even looks like it’s got some silver shimmer to it. Shearling Darling is a brown leaning autumnal burgundy. I used a floral stamp print, I think they might be poppies.

Essie Shearling Darling, Sally Hansen Go For Gold

Essie Shearling Darling, Sally Hansen Go For Gold

I’d like to try this or a similar combination again soon with one of the leaf/leaves stamp plates I have, think it would be nice for fall.

I am late to the game for nail art stamping, but I finally found and purchased myself a few supplies for it for my birthday recently, after discovering its pretty darn cheap. I don’t have any “stamping” polishes, and was determined to make the more cost effective regular ones work, and I was so relieved when I could get more use from my collection.

The end goal.

I used Wet n’ Wild Black Creme, Sinful Colors Mint Apple, and Avon Glimmer. The stamping plate I purchased off ebay for an amount so small I don’t remember it, would have been less than a buck. I used the image in the middle for today’s nails.

Two coats Sinful Colors Mint Apple over a base coat, then a stamp with the Wet n’ Wild Black Creme. I free-handed on a smidge of the gold with a fine brush. Applied topcoat. I would prefer the black lines to be thinner, but I’m satisfied with the results.

Turquoise Nails

Turquoise Nails

A while back I also tried to do a version of turquoise nails with a water marbling technique. It was a real pain in the butt, but I guess it turned out ok. I’m not qualified to supply a tutorial for this, but there are many online you can find.

I’m pretty excited about the nail art stamping, and regret not getting into it sooner. I anticipate a lot of posts with them coming up, some better than others, as it’s a bit of a learning curve!